#6 Merrimack Runs Away with Victory at Pace

PLEASANTVILLE, NY – No. 6 Merrimack won their fourth consecutive game on Sunday afternoon by the score of 16-9 over Pace behind a career-high seven goals from junior attackman Greg Melaugh (Billerica, Mass.).

"I'm really happy with how my guys came out this afternoon," said head coach Mike Morgan. "Playing on consecutive days is never ideal but my guys really fought through it and came away with a very big win."

With the victory over Pace on Sunday the Warriors clinched no lower than a three seed in the upcoming Northeast-10 playoffs.

Melaugh once again led the Warriors offensively racking up a career-high seven goals and one assist. Corey Lunney (Little Silver, NJ) and Kyle Guilbert (Walpole, Mass.) both scored three goals on the afternoon. Mike Perdie (Wading River, NY) finished off his impressive game with one goal and three assists while sophomore Paul Jones (Guilderland, NY) added to his team leading assist total with three more assists to give him 27 on the season.

The Warriors opened up the game on a 7-0 scoring run and closed the game with a 4-0 scoring run to defeat the Setters. The Warriors picked up their second win in as many days on Sunday after downing Bentley on Saturday in the New England Lacrosse Classic, held at Gillette Stadium.

Guilbert opened up the scoring for the Warriors scoring a minute into the contest and connected on his second goal just over two minutes later after a nice pass from Jones. Lunney and DJ Brown (Huntington, NY) connected on back-to-back goals to extend the Warriors lead to 4-0.

Melaugh would notch his first two goals of the game to give Merrimack the 6-0 lead with over three minutes remaining in the first period. Perdie found the back of the net just over a minute later, making the score 7-0 in favor of Merrimack.

The Setters scored the final goal of the first period and the first goal of the second period to cut the Merrimack lead to five. Freshman Jamie Shand (Massapequa, NY) responded quickly with his lone goal of the game and Lunney added his second of the game to make the score 9-2.

Pace closed out the first half with the final two goals to make the score 9-4 in favor of the Warriors after 30 minutes of play. For the first half, Merrimack held the 27-12 advantage in shots and went 7-8 on clearing attempts. The Warriors also went 2-3 on man-up opportunities while Pace went 1-2.

Melaugh opened up the third period with two goals for the Warriors but the Setters responded with two goals of their own. Lunney scored his team leading 35th goal of the season with 5:23 remaining in the third period but the Setters closed out the period with the final two goals, making the score 12-8 in favor of the Warriors.

John Kolesar started the fourth period off for the Setters with a goal to narrow the Warriors lead to three with 12:13 remaining in the game.

However, the Warriors big game player, Melaugh, wouldn't let Merrimack lose, scoring the final three goals of the game to give him 31 goals on the season in only 10 games. The Warriors ran out the clock on their way to the 16-9 victory at Pace on Sunday.

Patrick Coskren (Norwood, Mass.) had an impressive day in the faceoff circle as he went 21-29 on faceoff attempts for the Warriors. Coskren scooped up a career-high 17 groundballs in the victory. To go along with his eight points, Melaugh scooped up a season-high eight groundballs for the Warriors. Morgan Green (Portsmouth, RI) continued his strong play between the pipes, making seven saves on his way to his 11th victory of his freshman year.